First Gaming Build Under 1500

[DannyDangles12]

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: Within a couple of days

Budget Range: Under 1500

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, web streaming, web browsing, school work.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: everything except mouse, keyboard, and monitor

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I don't have any preferred websites

Location: Utah, United States

Parts Preferences: no preferences

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: Ill be looking at a hd 1080p in the future.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Been using a laptop with a broken screen for several years now so I'm looking to upgrade.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($289.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($127.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($101.68 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($424.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill BlackHawk ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($135.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($55.98 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1438.53
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-11 13:20 EST-0500)

Is the no front usb 3.0 ports on the case an issue?
This is roughly the price I am looking at but I wouldn't mind shaving a couple bucks off.

 

[jonjonjon]

looks good. its only an issue if you care about having usb 3.0 on the front of the case. i will say that if i was buying a $100+ case i would expect it to have usb 3.0.

you could save $10 on this ram.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-memory-bls2kit4g3d1609ds1s00

save some money on a hdd.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st31000524as

if you don't plan on sli/cf you could get a cheaper 550w psu. if you don't care about it being gold and modular you can save even more.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ssr550rm

 

[DannyDangles12]

What case would you recommend?

 

[jonjonjon]

cases are really subjective. im not a fan of the crazy alien style cases but other people are. i would get a corsair case. most aren't crazy flashy. that's just my opinion.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-cc650dw1
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-cc600tm
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-c70militarygreen
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-500rwt

 

[DannyDangles12]

Ya i probably prefer the case to be atleast a little flashy.

 

[Isaiah4110]

I agree, you have yourself a pretty solid looking build there. My personal preference would be for a Samsung 830/840 series or Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe SSD, but Crucial isn't bad.

jonjonjon is also correct that there are other RAM options and HDD options that could save you a *little* bit of money, but nothing of major significance. I personally would stick with a Western Digital (either Blue or Black) hard drive over any Seagate offering though.

The more realistic concern I would have is the heat spreaders on that RAM interfering with your CPU cooler. You would be safer going with something like Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory or G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory.

Ya i probably prefer the case to be atleast a little flashy.

Try this guy then. There are plenty of flashier options out there with front panel USB 3.0.

Of course, you also always have the option to buy an add-on front panel card that will fill an external 5.25" or 3.5" drive slot...

 

[DannyDangles12]

I agree, you have yourself a pretty solid looking build there. My personal preference would be for a Samsung 830/840 series or Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe SSD, but Crucial isn't bad.

jonjonjon is also correct that there are other RAM options and HDD options that could save you a *little* bit of money, but nothing of major significance. I personally would stick with a Western Digital (either Blue or Black) hard drive over any Seagate offering though.

The more realistic concern I would have is the heat spreaders on that RAM interfering with your CPU cooler. You would be safer going with something like Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory or G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory.


Try this guy then. There are plenty of flashier options out there with front panel USB 3.0.

Of course, you also always have the option to buy an add-on front panel card that will fill an external 5.25" or 3.5" drive slot...

What about the Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory that jonjonjon recommended?
Also I like that case that you linked so I switched to that case.

 

[xFriarx]

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, web streaming, web browsing, school work.

This made me LoL! I mean, the priorities are in the correct order...right?

As far as the build, it looks pretty solid. Here is my two cents.

Piggy-backing off of what Isaiah said, I would try to stick with low profile memory to avoid interfering with aftermarket heat sinks for the CPU. Something like the G.Skill Sniper/Ares series, Corsair XMS, most Kingston Hyper X ram, Mushkin Blackline are all between $37-47 right now on NewEgg for 2x4GB, DDR3 1600 CL9 kits. I've used all those brands without issue in the past.

You could drop to the Corsair TX750V2 PSU for $30 less, but you would be dropping from a 7 to 5 year warranty, if that matters to you. Purely a cost cutter here, both are great PSUs.

 

[DannyDangles12]

Thanks for the replies & ya those priorities are correct, I'm a senior in college and taking easy classes to get enough credits to graduate so school isn't high up there.

I updated the first post with the G. Skill memory and the Rosewill blackhawk case so I should be good to go.

 

[Isaiah4110]

What about the Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory that jonjonjon recommended?
Also I like that case that you linked so I switched to that case.

As far as RAM goes, I personally prefer Kingston, Corsair, and Patriot as my top 3 as I have personal experience with each and no problems. Mushkin and G.Skill are two brands I hear recommended often for quality and performance and are therefore also brands I would get if they saved me money.

 

[xFriarx]

Likewise, G.Skill and Corsair are at the top of my list followed by Kingston. I have had a couple Patriot sticks go bad on me, but their support was great and I RMA'ed them with no issues. I have never personally owned Mushkin, but I have put them in quite a few people's PCs and they have had no issues. I can't comment on Crucial as I have no experience with them.

 

[DannyDangles12]

I just have one more question, how would I go about adding a wireless connection to the build?

 

[Isaiah4110]

In a nutshell you have to buy a wireless adapter.

You can either grab an internal wireless card (PCIe most likely) or an external (USB) card. With both options you can find cards where the antenna is attached directly to the card (or built in) and options where the antenna is connected via a cable that gives you a little more freedom in choosing where to place the antenna.

Things to keep in mind: With an internal card you antenna is usually coming out of the back of your computer and signal quality can be affected by where you place your tower. If you shove it down in a corner you may get degraded signal quality. With a USB adapter, at a bare minimum you get the option of plugging in to a front or back panel USB port. You would may be surprised how great a difference that can make in signal quality.

Lastly, depending on your home setup, you may want to stick with the same brand wireless adapter as your router. Sometimes different brands don't get along too well. If your ISP provided a modem with wireless built in then go with whatever brand you feel like. I personally have had good success with Linksys, but you are probably looking at spending north of $50 for a good Linksys adapter.

 

[Isaiah4110]

At a glance, and without doing any research/reading any reviews, the Linksys AE3000 or D-Link DWA-182 is probably the first one I would grab.

 

[DannyDangles12]

Thanks, also, I decided that I am not going to do overclocking so I am thinking about dropping the cpu cooler and going with the i7 3770. Would that be the best alternative?

Edit: I updated the first post with the i7.

 

[Isaiah4110]

An i7 will be overkill for your uses. Switching to an i5 3450, 3470, 3550, or 3570 (non-K version) would be more appropriate.

 

[jonjonjon]

if your not going to overclock and are buying a locked cpu you can save some money can get a H77 or B75 motherboard.

 

[xFriarx]

As the others have said, for gaming and most daily tasks the i5-3750k is on par with the i7-3770k. Unless your doing heavily threaded applications (video editing/encoding ect.) on a routine basis, then an i7 is just blowing the extra cash that could be put towards something better. In your instance larger SSD or higher performing RAM.
If your not going to overclock then the 3570 (non-k) would be the next step down (but for the $10 difference I would stay with the "K" version incase you do get the itch to OC it later). The next step down after that would be the 3470 which would save you some worthwhile money over the 3570k (~$30-40), but you would sacrifice a *little* bit of performance due to the 200mhz lower clock. Which would probably only be noticeable in the more CPU intensive games (generally RTS/MMO/Large Multiplayer games).

(Oh and just to be complete, so someone doesn't b*tch me out, there is a i5-3550 as well. But its to close in price to the 3570 to call it out(~$3 price difference).)

 

[DannyDangles12]

sorry to bump this thread but Best Buy sent me the Corsair TX750m instead of the 750HX. Should I bother trying to return or just keep it and save about 40 bucks?

 

[Isaiah4110]

sorry to bump this thread but Best Buy sent me the Corsair TX750m instead of the 750HX. Should I bother trying to return or just keep it and save about 40 bucks?

How much did you pay and what would you have to pay when you thought you were getting the HX model? The TX750M is still a very good PSU, with the only difference between it and the HX750 being that the HX750 is 80PLUS Gold while the TX750M is 80PLUS Bronze...

Looks like the HX750 also has a few extra SATA and 4-pin Molex connectors, but the main difference, and reason for the cost difference, is the level of 80PLUS certification.

Unless 80PLUS Gold is really important to you (5% efficiency increase over Bronze) then I would say $40 extra is a bit much to pay for the HX750 over the TX750M.

 

[DannyDangles12]

Well I payed for the hx750 which came out to $153 and the TX750 is listed at $112 so it's a little less than $40 cheaper but I'll just keep the TX750 and save the money. Thanks for the quick response.

 

[Isaiah4110]

So you paid for the HX750, but they sent you the TX750M and refunded the cost difference? That is certainly odd, but oh well I suppose. If they sent you the TX750M and didn't refund the cost difference then I would definitely do something to try to get compensation, either a refund of the difference or the PSU you actually paid for.

 

[DannyDangles12]

I actually had to go into best buy and they refunded me the difference.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Sounds like you are set then. I would definitely stick with what you have if I were in your shoes.

 

[DannyDangles12]

ok so I just have one more question and Ill just ask it here instead of making a new thread. I just have 4 case fans, which are all molex ports, left to wire and am curious about the best way to wire them. Could I just daisy chain them then plug in a 4pin adapter to plug into the Mobo or should I just plug them into the PSU?